Union University News

Union publishes first issue of Christian thought journal

JACKSON, Tenn. – May 7, 2012 – The first edition of a new journal published by Union University, “Renewing Minds: A Journal of Christian Thought,” is now available.

“This is not like an academic journal in the sense that it is written just for other academics,” said Hunter Baker, associate dean of arts and sciences at Union and one of the journal’s senior editors. “This is an attempt for academics to make their ideas accessible to a broader public.”

C. Ben Mitchell, the Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy at Union and also a senior editor of the journal, said “Renewing Minds” will allow Union to contribute to the conversation about important topics in a timely fashion.

“We want to showcase the best of Union scholarship,” Mitchell said. “We think that the journal will enable us to do that, as well as be able to publish others as well.”

The theme for the first issue is “Christian higher education,” with articles from Union University professors Scott Huelin (“Religio et Eruditio”), Jennifer Gruenke (“Faith and Science: Hard Questions”) and Baker (“The State of Christian Higher Education”), as well as Mark Schwehn, provost of Valparaiso University (“The Liberal Arts”), and Paul House, professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School (“Making Christian Minds”).

Baker said the plan for each issue is also to find an article from the past to put back into print. The first issue contains an article from Carl F.H. Henry, “The Crisis of the Campus.” The journal includes several book reviews as well.

“It’s designed to get Christian scholars to reflect on important questions,” Baker said of the new project. “A lot of times scholarship seems to be aimed at things that we might find trivial or exceedingly narrow. This is an attempt to call upon people to apply their mind to questions of significant social import.”

In the introduction to the journal, Union University President David S. Dockery said the articles “reflect well the key aspects of the Christian intellectual tradition.”

“We pray that the journal will be used of God to enhance the work of ‘renewing minds,’ thus strengthening the efforts of those who are called to serve in the distinctive sphere of Christian higher education,” Dockery writes.

J. Michael Garrett is the review editor for the journal, while Jonathan Dockery is the managing editor and Sarah Dockery is the production editor.